


A Different Frontier

by DisobeyedBowl6



Category: Overwatch (Video Game), Titanfall
Genre: Feedback appreciated, Gen, Tags May Change, what am i even doing with these tags, will add more characters when they show up
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-10-01
Updated: 2017-11-20
Packaged: 2019-01-07 19:53:00
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,686
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12239571
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DisobeyedBowl6/pseuds/DisobeyedBowl6
Summary: A Pilot and Titan find themselves in a very different fight than the one they were expecting.





	1. Shift

She jumped towards the titan, covered in the digital cloak that made her invisible to its sensors. One hand snagged a handle on the top of the chassis, the Legion still oblivious to the pilots’ presence. She shuffled over to the back of the titan, her feet light on the metal as she scrambled over to the back of the titan, pulling the battery out, replacing it with the one on her back.

She slid the red battery into the slot, the titan jerking upright, a rising whine as the battery she had installed caused the core to destabilize. She leapt off the Legion, spinning and grappling onto her Titan, standing about 10 meters away.

 

The whine rose steadily as she jumped into the cockpit, the hatch sealing as she spun around, settling into the chair.

“Welcome back pilot.” The titan purred, “Phase ready.”

They stood, watching the titan as its midsection glowed white. They couldn’t have got away in time, even if they ran as soon as the battery was inserted.

She shoved her nerves down, “You ready?”

The titan could feel her pilots nerves through the link, “Yeah. Trust me, I’m watching it.”

The pilot sat forwards in the chair, handing the controls to the titan, “I know that.” She opened a comm. channel, “Ash, this is 5-4, over.”

“Copy 5-4. You still alive down there?” The simulacrums voice was synthetically harsh, although she was often kind to Zoe.

“Phase in 3 seconds. See you soon.”

“Copy that. Ash out.”

The glow grew too painful levels, the whine audible from within the cockpit.  “Phasing.” Kelly reported, the sight out of the cockpit display whiting out.

The chassis shook, the titan staggering backward as it compensated.

“Pilot, we have sustained damage.” The titan stuttered over the last word, “I do not know why.”

They dropped out of phase, pilot and titan both shaken from the damage experienced. Zoe opened up a comm channel again, “Ash, this is 5-4.”

Static saturated the line, “Kelly, can you clear that up?”

“No,” the titan paused, “Zoe, that signal isn’t getting sent to any relay.” She paused again, “Scanning for any signal I can pick up. We also appear to be approximately 25 meters above the grou... oh shit.” The titan swore, Zoe suddenly felt weightless, looking down, the ground approaching fast.

She heard the chassis crunch against the concrete floor, suddenly flying forwards into the display. She felt her head hit the back of her helmet...

-X-

“Further disruption to people’s commute today as a warehouse has exploded on the way into London. First responders are on the scene, and police are saying that it looks like an accident and not an attack. No-one was in the building at the time. Now, the 6 o’clock news.”


	2. First Contact

“Hello and welcome to the news at 7 am. Members of Overwatch have been seen assisting first responders to clear the debris at the warehouse. Authorities still don’t know who or what caused the explosion.”

-X-

Zoe watched them from the tree line, watching as men rushed around, slowly removing the layers of debris. She sat down on the roots of a tree, picking splinters of wood out of the top fabric layer of her armour.  Her Kraber was still in the cockpit, along with the backup R-201. She checked her pistol, missing as well.

_Fuck_

She knew she had her sword, a short version of what Kelly carried, she could feel it pressing into her back. Zoe unclipped the sheath, sliding it through her belt. A small group of the responders started to wonder over towards her. She instinctively crouched low into the shadows, tensing as they approached.

One of them spoke, his voice low, gruff, “We can’t let the public know about this Omnic. If word gets out about the size, people will panic.”

The other person nodded, “We’re lucky it’s deactivated. I’ll put a call through to command, try and get a no-fly zone set up. Whatever it is, the monkey will want to see it.”

They both laughed, before walking off.

 _Kelly?_ Zoe reached out through her neural link, waiting for any sort of response.

She could feel the rumble of the titan in the back of her mind, but no real response.

One of the giant suits of armour stomped up to the mound of debris she had crawled out of, crouching down to inspect something. The armour turned, a human head barely visible behind all the plate. She saw his head moving across the ground, looking at something. She moved forward, staying low. Her sword was partially drawn, the dull non-reflective coating absorbing light.

She saw that the armoured human had a massive weapon, a hammer with what looked like an old jet attached to the back of it. She shrugged, triggering the test on her jump kit.

He spoke to no-one, presumably into a communication unit, “I’ve got a possible contact. Trees heading 145 from blast site.”

She heard enough to know that she was not in a good position. The hammer-wielding giant walked towards her position in the tree line, the rumble of a jet engine loud. She stood slowly, watching for any sign of a reaction, any give that she’d been seen.

“Come on then. Show your face. There’s no point hiding.” The man yelled over the sound of his hammer.

She shrugged, bringing her helmet lights back on as she stepped out of the tree line, sword held half out its scabbard, “Maybe not.” She replied, “But then again, you don’t look like the type that hands out hugs.” Her voice was slightly synthetic though her helmet and artificial voice box.

A look of shock flashed across his face briefly, the hammer swinging down fast, the jet screaming. Zoe threw herself sideways, rolling in the air and using her jump kit to land on her feet. The hammer chased her, not hitting the ground during the downswing. She ducked, her helmet hitting the ground before she fired her jump kit again, skidding on her back into a graceful flip to land back on her feet again. The next swing she jumped over, planting a kick against the shoulder plate, trying to knock her opponent off balance.

“Omnic scum. Why’d you blow up the warehouse when no one was in it.” He growled.

Zoe jumped away, pausing to sheath her sword, “Onmic? What the hell is one of them?” she drew her data knife, it wouldn’t get hit by the hammer unless she was, unlike the sword, which would shatter if the hammer hit it.

“Robotic assistants, their AI was corrupted. Why don’t you know this?” He paused as well, watching the small pilot as she held the knife low against her wrist.

 _Shit, the voice modulator is on._ She quickly turned it off, speaking again, “So, you don’t trust them.”

He stepped backwards, “You’re not an Omnic?”

She sighed, “No.”

He swung the hammer down into the ground, looking slightly embarrassed, “Sorry. I assumed because of the voice that, well...” he trailed off, thinking for a second, “You don’t happen to know anything about the massive Omnic in the warehouse rubble, do you?”

“Kelly?” she cocked her head to one side, starting to walk towards the rubble.

The man blocked her path with an arm, “You can’t go there, the Omnic is Overwatch’s property now.”

She laughed, “The fuck is Overwatch? And who the fuck gave them permission or authority to take my titan?”

The man looked down at her, “They gave themselves permission when your “titan” trashed a warehouse, kid. Anyway, you’re going with them. They’ll want to…” he paused again, trying to find the right wording, “talk to you, I guess.”

A group of jets shot overhead, followed by a large transport vessel. It hovered briefly before landing very loudly on four-man high legs. A ramp dropped at the back, a large crane rumbling down it. People swarmed out behind the crane, rushing around Kelly’s chassis securing her the crane. She was lifted up, the dull rumble of the titan still present in Zoe’s head.

 _KELLY._ She shouted at the titan, _STOP CHECKING ALL YOUR DAMN SYSTEMS AND START DOING SOMETHING. Please._

The crane started manoeuvring back into the ship as Zoe jumped forwards, flying over the armoured arm, sprinting hard towards the ship as the ramp started to rise behind the crane. She watched everything she could, her eyes gauging rough distances, her legs running automatically, her hands readied her grappling hook, loading the spike into the wrist-mounted launcher.

The ramp was halfway up when she threw the grapple line, the cable arcing up and over the rising ramp, lodging itself in the metal on the other side. She felt the cable go taut, the mechanism engaging to pull her towards the ship.

Her jump kit whined, keeping her roughly level with the cable as she approached the edge of the ramp. It flared, roaring into life as she spun upwards, flipping over the top of the ramp as a smaller ramp started to deploy on the side of the ship. A group of people were arrayed around the smaller ramp, all of them spinning in surprise when Zoe landed on the metal. Various weapons were raised as she half drew her sword.

One of them, wearing a long blue coat with a holographic display over one eye, looked calmly at her, “What do you plan on doing with the sword?” he chuckled.

She dropped the sword back into the sheath, shrugging, “Whatever I wanted. Some guy with too much armour to move properly said I’d be wanted here. To... talk.”

“Aye, we’ll want to talk. Not here though, back at base. Speaking of which, could you take a seat, take off and landing are particularly bumpy.” A tall man wearing black armour tried to direct her to a seat on the side wall, away from Kelly.

She casually ducked under the arm, choosing to climb onto the crane, crouching down next to the cockpit hatch. She placed a hand on the datacore, “Come on Kel. I survived, you must have.” She gently pulled a lever hidden along the edge of the cockpit, releasing the locking clamps. She lifted the cockpit cover up, grabbing her rifles and some ammunition. She looked around the cramped interior, the familiar glow of running lights missing. She paused a moment longer, grabbing a picture lodged in the side wall, before gently lowering the cockpit back into place, hearing the hatch lock again.

She turned around to see the giant man in armour stomp up the ramp, followed by a blue flash of light. A young woman appeared in the ship, sitting casually in the chair the tall man had been trying to get Zoe to go to. She snapped the gun she was holding up, aiming it at the newcomer.

“Woah, calm down their luv.” The newcomer smiled, holding out open hands to show she wasn’t armed.

The large armoured man laughed, “Bit jumpy, aren’t you?”

Zoe slowly lowered the Kraber as the ramp rose, moving her sheathed sword back onto her back, hooking the Kraber into a support in her belt, shrugging as she did so, “I have to be.”

He laughed again, “What kind of battlefield requires you to be that jumpy though?”

She shrugged, “Demeter, Troy, others, but the list would take days. Pilots have a risky job, not many make 50 years in the field.” She passed the comment like it was nothing, but the people in the ship seems startled.

The small woman sitting down spoke, “’Scuse me, luv...”

Zoe cut in, “Don’t do that. I have a name, you just have to ask.” Her voice was harsh.

The small woman grinned, annoying happy about something, “Right, sorry. Two questions then, name and doesn’t that make you about 70 years old, if you signed up when legal?”

Zoe nodded, holding out a hand for shaking, “Name’s Zoe. Pilot, 8th generation. And yes, it does.”

The young woman shook her hand, “I’m Lena Oxton, callsign Tracer. Do you always wear that helmet?”

She was about to respond when the tall man in armour spoke, “You seem quite fighting fit for a 70 year old.”

Zoe shrugged again, “8th gen. Keeps you ready to fight, and you regen when you need it.”

The ship shuddered, lifting off the ground unevenly, the right side rising before the left. She stood still, letting her jump kit compensate. The whine of the engines rose as the craft gained altitude, Zoe saw the sky near the front of the ship, wondering towards it, gentle puffs from her jump kit keeping her stable. She stopped near the wall, looking into the cockpit area, holographic displays lining the walls of the ship. She leaned in, looking at the nearest display. It seemed to her to be showing some sort of power output levels, a fusion reactor and 16 electrical motors.

She turned back to the bulk of the ship, looking at Lena, “Yeah, I wear my helmet a lot.” They all looked at her, almost expectantly, “No, I’m not taking off my helmet, I don’t know if y’all want to murder me or not.” She managed to make the very American word sound normal, her slight British accent not butchering the word. She subtly shifted her R-201, moving it to a position where she could move it to aim easier. No-one seemed to care that much about the action, either not recognising it, or being confident in their ability to get her before she could get them.

-X-

The ship settled on its legs, bumping down onto the ground. Lucy had taken a seat for the landing, choosing to sit next to Kelly’s chassis. She stood as the ship settled down, the back and side ramps opening simultaneously.

The blue coat spoke to her, “Welcome to Overwatch HQ. A few things before we start talking international secrets. One, Don’t call Winston a monkey. He’s a gorilla, and probably has a higher IQ than you. Two, There’s a lot of weird folks that work for us, don’t point this out, if something has gone wring Athena will tell you. Three, Athena is Winston’s AI. She’ll need access to your communication equipment so she can contact you, and so you can contact her. Four, don’t tell anyone outside about what you see happening here, it’s all protected work.”

Zoe shrugged, “Noted. Athena can have rudimentary access to helmet comms. Winston is _not_ a monkey, people around here are weird, and all this shits secret, or at least not for public eyes.”

Black armour nodded, “Maybe turn off that voice modulator as well, some people aren’t massively comfortable around anything mildly robotic.”

Blue coat gestured for her to follow him, “We’ll talk inside.” He turned to a camera on the crane, “Send the Omnic to engineering.”

Zoe looked at him, glaring beneath her helmet, “No-one goes near her. Unless they feel like being short a head.”

-X-

The door opened silently, revealing a small meeting room. Blue coat walked in, Zoe following cautiously. A handful of people were sitting around the central table, wearing a sort of uniform. The colours were blue and gold. She looked around the table, recognising some faces, the giant armoured man was just as tall out of armour, even sitting down he was taller than she was. The man wearing black armour, who still wore it, his guns hanging from twin slings. There were a few others she didn’t recognise, a woman wearing a lab coat, and next to her, another woman, a low calibre sniper rifle resting against her chair.

The blue coat gestured for her to take a seat, before addressing the room, “Glad all of you could make it. As you should know, our rapid response team responded to a potential attack by rebellious forces within the Omnium. We have since told the relevant local authorities that it was a freak accident, and that we have extracted any dangerous materials from the location. This is technically correct.”

He paused for a second, Zoe took the chance to speak, “Yeah, me and Kelly didn’t mean to cause an explosion. I’m Zoe, pilot 8th generation and might have been part of the cause of the explosion.”

The group looked at her, seemingly surprised that she would interject. Blue coat simply smiled, “Thank you for that quick rundown of what happened. The names Jack Morrison, commander of Overwatch.”

Introductions went around the table, the woman with the rifle was Ana Amari, the woman wearing the lab coat was Dr Angela Ziegler, the giant was Reinhardt Wilhelm and the tall black armoured man was Gabriel Reyes.

Zoe nodded as Jack continued, “We brought Zoe and what she calls a titan back to the base. The Titan is currently in engineering bay 5. When Reinhardt found Zoe, he mistook her for a hostile Omnic.”

Zoe turned on the voice modulator, her voice becoming lower and more synthetic “It’s not easy thing to spot when I had this on.”

Jack continued, “Reinhardt’s report states that she seems more than competent with avoiding his hammer, and that she seems to have a good grasp of dynamic movement under pressure. So, shall we see if she makes the grade?”

Zoe didn’t react, simply absorbing all the information as murmurs of agreement circled the table. Jack talking to her snapped her out of her thoughts, “You up for that then?”

She nodded, “Sure.”

-X-

She looked at the array of people standing around in small groups, certainly a collection of oddities. They were varied in every sense of the word, some standing at well over 6 feet, whereas others were smaller than her. She recognised a few faces as a cool AI voice came over the speaker system, “Training, daily part one. Agility.”

Zoe grinned, her jump kit rumbling into life. She didn’t try to get near the front of the small crowd, instead looking over the course they would be running. A long stretch of open grass started it off, followed by a series of short jumps over some puddles, before the course turned a corner, hiding the rest of it. The people standing around lumped together, bustling to claim a position at the front of the pack. Zoe watched it all, standing right at the back. She set off slow when the buzzer went off, the AI voice announcing that everyone had 7 minutes to finish the 1.2 km course. She let the pack spread out before starting to run properly, her stride opening up as she passed the slower runners. The first of the jumps was approaching, she leapt forwards, not bothering to use her jump kit to assist. The second and third jumps were of a similar distance, and she cleared them easily. The fourth jump was much longer, she threw herself forwards, triggering her jump kit halfway through the jump, soaring over the remaining section. She’d passed a good proportion of the pack in clearing the final jump, as she raced around the corner she jumped towards the wall, her jump kit firing a sustained burst to keep her running along it. She dropped off the wall, sliding as she hit the ground, flying though the gap underneath a fence. She saw the front-runners, a blue flash and a long blue coat seemed to be leading the race.

She swung around the next corner, sprinting hard towards the next drop off. She leapt at the top of the incline, grappling line flying out to tether to a tree. She swung, her jump kit fighting the grapple mechanism, trying to keep her going in a straight line. She used the momentum from the swing to throw herself forwards as she disconnected the grapple line, her jump kit firing in long sustained bursts as she curved around the corner in the air, the finish line approaching. She sighed, Lena was standing around, and Jack was just crossing the finishing line as she passed the apex. The grapple line spooled out again, blade catching in a tree limb. She dove, accelerating down and around on the fixed line. Just as she started to rise again, she disconnected the grapple, slingshotting herself towards the finish.

She landed hard, skidding a good 5 metres before coming to a halt, jump kit whining as it cycled down.

The AI announced her time, 3 minutes and 59 seconds. She shrugged, “Not bad for the first run of the day.” She looked over at Jack and Lena, “How’d you two do?”

Lena grinned, “Two minutes dead.”

Jack shook his head, “I was slow. 3  40.”

She looked back across the line, watching a large group barrel their way towards the finish line. Zoe sidestepped as the group passed, most of them breathing heavily.

Lena sidled up to her, “That’s some fancy kit you’ve got luv.”

Zoe sighed, realising that Lena was not going to give up on her use of the word luv instead of using her name, “Class 7 Mobility Assistance Unit, colloquially  known as a jump kit.” The thrusters fired, launching her forwards a few metres, “Mark 2 Pilot Grappling Hook and Launcher, it’s a bit old now, but I trust it. You ran fast, what’s the blue circle for?”

Lena laughed, “Chronal accelerator. Keeps me locked in this time.”

Zoe nodded slowly, “Know how it works?”

Jack looked at Lena pointedly, Lena shrugging in response to Zoe’s question, “No idea. You’d have to ask Winston.”

Just as she was about to ask where to find Winston, the AI announced the next part of the training session was ready, and they moved on, Zoe’s mind forgetting what she had wanted to ask.

-X-

They all trooped back into a room Zoe hadn’t seen, a large common room. There was a large flat screen showing a new channel, a pool table in one corner, where a robot played against a tall olive-skinned man. From the looks of things, the robot was winning, heartily slapping the olive man on the shoulder after potting another ball.

The thing that grabbed her attention, however, was a small upright piano, shoved into a corner, it seemed no-one wanted anyone to play. She shrugged and walked away, towards the door.

Lena watched her go, curious enough about why she would leave to follow.

-X-

Zoe sat down next to Kelly’s chassis, sighing as she pulled her helmet off. She patted the cockpit cover, hoping the titan would suddenly come back to life.

Nothing happened, she opened a pocket, pulling out a picture. She looked at it, 6 figures standing in frame.

Ash stood in the middle, rifle held down by her leg. Blake stood to Ash’s left, his rifle held halfway raised, his dark grey armour standing out against the red sand. Zoe stood on the right, her black armour with a slight red tint due to the dust. Their titans stood behind them, Kelly with her railgun resting on the dusty ground, Blake’s Stryder crouched in front of Kelly, aiming over Ash’s head with his 40mm cannon. Ash’s ronin could be seen in outline, the phase distorting space around it. She shook her head, closing her eyes, diving into the neural link. She pushed into the titan’s substrate, hunting for Kelly.

She found several small fragments, recovery code slowly binding two separate parts together. Along a different pathway, walls of code slowly unpicked scrambled and corrupt lines, fixing what they could and deleting what they couldn’t.

She retreated back into her own mind, hoping that Kelly would be able to sort herself out soon.

She checked the time, 3 am.

She shrugged, putting her helmet on again before resting against the titan's chassis.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading, feedback always appreciated.  
> Until next time.


	3. Overwatch

Ash paced back and forth, staring daggers at the repeater screens on the wall, her left hand drumming a pattern on her leg as she walked.

Blake walked in, smiling. The simulacrum looked up, “What?” she snapped.

He shrugged, “Just good to be up and about again.” He paused, his grin widening, “Good to see you again, Ash.”

The simulacrum stopped her stalking as Blake continued, “Where’s Zoe?” He asked. The other pilot has not been seen as he had wondered around the complex, nor had he seen her titan, who he had expected to find in one of the titan ranges.

Ash looked back at the screens, “No idea.” She said flatly.

“What do you mean no idea?” Blake asked, walking up to stand next to the simulacrum, “She’d tell you if she was going to leave.”

Ash sighed, static rushing out of her vocal processor, “She was testing some of the new phase units using nukes.” One of the screens flickered, switching from power monitoring to a video feed. Background static could be heard, “Ash, this is 5-4, over.” Zoe’s voice was calm.

“Copy 5-4.” Ash’s voice was harsh, unusual for when she was talking to her core pilots, “You still alive down there?”

Blake looked at Ash as Zoe spoke again, “Phase in 3 seconds. See you soon.”

He spoke over the recording, “Why was she testing it with a nuke?”

Ash waited a few seconds, a burst of garbled words making Blake flinch slightly, “She tests all the new phase units with a nuke once they’ve made it through the simulation. We cleaned up the last transmission as best we could, it was scrambled pretty good from the transition to normal space and the nuke.”

The noise played again, a faint voice just about audible though it, “Pilot, we have ... damage.” Her titan could be heard.

“Shit.” Blake said, moving over to the simulacrum, letting her rest her head against his shoulder. They stood there, watching the screens, waiting for any sign of their friends return.

-X-

Zoe woke suddenly, clattering snapping her out of her sleep.

“Is she here?” one voice asked. Young, female by the sound of it.

“I dunno, her room was locked, so presumably not.” A male voice replied, slight synthetic imperfection in his tone.

Zoe stood slowly, staying in the darkest parts of the room. She moved instinctively over to where she had left her rifle, lifting it off the table and slotting a magazine into the receiver.

“Why do you want to look at her mech anywhy? It’s inert.” The synthetic voice asked.

The young female voice responded, “Have you seen her equipment? It’s eons ahead of anything we’ve developed, if we could find out how her mech runs, Meka could become maybe a hundred fold more powerful. If I could get a full scan back to R and D, they could have it analysed down to an atomic level in days.”

Lucy raised the rifle, resting the stock in her shoulder. She’d heard enough to get an idea of what they wanted, and it sounded irresponsible and dangerous. Her helmet lights turned on, bathing the engineering bay in blue-white light from her faceplate and flashlight, “You two.” She growled, “Back off, now.”

The young female was barely looked old enough to drink, the synthetic man had a sword on his hip and another poking over his shoulder. The female responded, “Woah, chill out a bit, we were just curious.” The synthetic nodded in agreement.

“If I could get a full scan back to R and D, they could have it analysed down to an atomic level in days?” Zoe shot back, “Sounds really curious.” Her voice was low, almost daring them to make a move.

The young woman held her hands behind her back as she walked towards the door, “Well, I was. Anyway, it’s not your mech, it’s overwatch’s, and we share our tech.” Her arms moved, a tiny pistol in her hands. She fired off a shot, the round fizzling against Zoe’s chest plate.

Zoe’s arm flashed out, grappling line whipping towards the woman, who flinched as she saw the spike flashing towards her. It spun around her leg, tightening and coiling around itself as Zoe pulled it back hard. The woman flew through the air towards her, Zoe jumping over her as she skidded along the ground. The grappling line had tightened, the woman snapped around, being dragged back towards her. Zoe planted a knee in her back, racking the bolt on the rifle as she aimed it at her head.

“Four things.” She growled, her voice duplicated by the synthesis unit in her helmet, “One. Didn’t I say that this was my engineering bay? Or did the sign on the door fall off? Two. My titan has a name, use it. Three. Yeah, because I’m going to let you copy tech that is sufficiently advanced to appear to be magic to you. Four. Don’t attack me unless you want me to retaliate.”

The young woman shook as the synthetic started to move towards her.

“Don’t. I’m just about angry enough to blow her brains out.” The safety clicked off, holographic sights flickering into existence.

The synthetic stopped, trying to gauge how serious the newcomer was from her body language. He decided not to risk stepping forwards as the door burst open, three people storming into the bay, weapons held ready to fire.

“What the hell is happening here?” Morrison demanded, weapon pointed in Zoe’s general direction.

The woman spoke, “Me and Genji were just having a look around and…”

Zoe motioned to pull the trigger, the first click silencing the girl, “These two decided that they could just have a poke around my titan, talking about sending a scan off to R and D for some Meka program. Then she,” Zoe jabbed her gun towards the girl, “Decided to shoot me. Terrible gun, didn’t do anything.” She laughed, her voice modulator distorting the sound.

Morrison didn’t look impressed, motioning for Zoe to let the girl go. She did, flicking the safety back on, swinging the rifle strap over her shoulder, resting her hand on the stock. The girl stood, Zoe kicking her pistol back over to her, “Try it again and you’ll get a bullet between your eyes.”

Morrison had started to lower his gun, as Zoe spoke he snapped it back up to aim at her, “Cut that out, Zoe. Hana is barely 16, she doesn’t need a 70-year-old telling that she’ll be shot. Anyway, everyone, helmets off, I don’t care if you don’t want to, helmets off. Yes, that includes you, Genji.”

Zoe watched as the synthetic reached up and push his mask inwards, before pulling it away, revealing a reconstructed human face. She sighed, twisting the helmet to break the seal between it and the rest of her armour. She pulled the helmet up, blinking her right eye, the left side of her face mostly non-reflective metal. She pushed her hair back, moving it out of her face, looking across the shocked faces, “What?”

The doctor pushed her way through the group, holding a pad aimed at her, “Hmmmm.” She said, more to herself than anyone else, “DNA is clean, carbon aging is about 70 years, one mechanical lung, metal forms almost half the skull, mechanical right lower leg and left lower arm, three mechanical fingers on her right hand.” She looked at Zoe, “How are you still functioning as a human?”

“Luck, a good friend, and 8 regenerations.” Zoe replied evenly, flipping her helmet upside down and fiddling with a component inside, the lights on the faceplate flickering, “Mostly the regenerations.”

The doctor, Angela if Zoe remembered correctly, took more steps towards her, “That is incredible.” She said, eyes flicking between data and watching Zoe, “And this tech works on anyone?”

Zoe laughed, “If I knew, I wouldn’t tell you.” She scratched at her check, rubbing along the join between flesh and metal, “Anyways, I’m interested in how the synthetic is a human.”

Angela smiled, “I know, but I’m not telling you.” She said, getting a small laugh from the members of overwatch.

Morrison spoke up, “You didn’t really think about diplomacy, did you Zoe?” he asked, smug look on his face indicating he knew the answer.

The pilot shrugged, “It’s not normally something I have to consider when someone shoots me. And anyway, I did ask them to leave.”

“She pointed a gun at us and insisted we leave, even though the mech…” the girl, Hana, started.

“Kelly has a name, use it.” Zoe snapped, her human eye glaring daggers at the girl.

“Fine,” Hana continued, “Kelly is overwatch property now.”

Zoe sighed, “Someone else who knows the deal take this one please.”

Morrison spoke, “Hana, Zoe has agreed to work for us while she attempts to figure out how she got here. She has also expressed that Kelly is not to be studied for reverse engineering of technology. In return, she’ll assist where and when we need it.”

Hana pouted, looking even younger, “But it’s overmatches’ property if she’s working for us.” She complained.

“So can I request a “Meka”, since that is overmatches’ property as well?” Zoe shot back.

“No, there is experimental tech in Meka which...”

“Which I could probably build with scraps in a quarter of the time it would take your factories.” Zoe growled, “You don’t understand something, clearly, as I possess more advanced technology in my jump kit than what will be invented in a hundred years.” Zoe shoved her helmet over her head, the visor flickering on, blue light bathing the members of overwatch, “Now,” her voice was synthetic, with deep rumbling undertones, “I’d like to be left alone for a few hours.” Her helmet lights flickered off, “That’s one thing they are yet to do.” She muttered, sitting down heavily next to Kelly’s cockpit.

The door clicked shut.

-X-

The massive rifle slammed into her shoulder again, metal clanging as the bolt stayed open. Zoe stepped back from the firing position, watching the targets roll towards them. Her shoulders dropped, Lena looked at her, surprised, “You alright, luv?”

Zoe twirled a small knife between her fingers, watching the light reflect off the blade, “I should have done better.” She said, flicking the knife towards the targets.

It hit with a dull thud, sinking into the metal slightly. It emitted a low beep, an orange-yellow light  pulsing emanating from the handle. Lena watched as it continued to pulse, looking increasingly curious as the light on the handle faded, “What is it?”

Zoe smiled underneath her helmet, “Active radar based pulse blade, based around the old Kunai blades used by Japanese farmers back on earth way back when. It’s better balanced than the old blades, and designed to stick into targets.”

Lena looked at the targets again, the blade lodged in the central one, the others sporting large dents or holes in the centre of their chests, all the shots well within the “kill zones”, “You couldn’t have done much better.”

Zoe pulled the knife out of the target, sheathing it in one smooth motion. She looked at the targets, peering at each of them in turn, before turning back to Lena, “Although I’ve done much worse.” She said, pulling her helmet off, slotting the rifle back into the clip on her hip, sighing heavily, “I guess, I’m just not used to working without a titan is all, at least without her in my head. It’s like…” She stopped suddenly, “I need some space.” Her jump kit rumbled as she turned, running towards the door, grappling line swinging up and out of the door, the pilot following quickly after.

-X-

Zoe swung upwards, her jumpkit firing in microbursts, correcting her direction as she swung around the control tower. Her feet connected with the outside wall, her hands pulling her up automatically. She reached the top in moments, crouching near the edge, looking down at the ground, people never looking up at her. She sat down, shifting her rifle, the distance from everything calming her down. Up here, this was her domain, dictating life from a point so far above the target they’d never see her. Her eyes surveyed the base from above, automatically calculating escape routes, where she could get to without being seen. Sounds echoed up to her, voices merging into an incoherent noise.

She closed her eyes, letting her brain wonder back, back many years to the site of her first kill…

-X-

“Headhunter 5, in position.” Her voice was cold, calm, everything you wanted and expected in a sniper.

“Copy that, make the call.” Headhunter 1, Ash, responded, “Distraction is ready to go.”

Zoe hunted for her target, her eye never leaving the scope. She was without a helmet, having left it lying on the dusty ground next to her for the shot. She found them, an IMC traitor, conversing with a militia officer. Her aim twitched, she breathed in.

Out.

Held it.

She pinged Ash, a series of explosions going off in the valley in front of her.

The rifle roared, sound hidden within the crackle of the charges. She kept her aim on the target, right hand pulling the bolt back, chambering another round.

The round impacted, the traitors head bursting open as the massive round smashed into his skull.

A low boom reflected out of the valley towards her, she flinched, ducking as she heard the sound, straining her ears for the whine snap of a sniper round.

The sound never came.

“Ash, shot has echoed back, fall back.” She said calmly into her mic, hearing the other members of Headhunter murmering in agreement.

“Copy that, meet you at the RV in 5 minutes.” Ash responded, her breathing slightly audible though the microphone, “Good shot, Echo.”

Zoe slung the sniper rifle back over her shoulder, slipping her helmet back onto her head. She started the run back to the RV point, smiling broadly at what Ash had said to her. Echo. Not Headhunter 5. Echo. A proper callsign, one to be known by.

She was still grinning like an idiot as she fell asleep on the flight back, after many hearty congratulations from the other members of the squad.

-X-

“You know, not many people can get up hear without help?” A deep voice said.

Zoe spun around, jumping to her feet, “I’m not most people.” She shot back. Her eyes widened slightly under her helmet, the sight of a fully grown gorilla sitting down, white plate armour coving it, “So,” She said carefully, “You’re Winston, I’m guessing.”

The gorilla laughed, his voice deep, “Yes. Yes I am.” He smiled, “And you must be the one who owns the mech down in bay 5, right? I’d love to have a look at it, see how it works.”

Zoe laughed, “Well, I’m loath to let anyone near her, because of the tech difference, but I can give you a few schematics for some of the less powerful parts.” A tablet appeared from her armour, “you got anything this will connect to?”

He held up a small data storage device, “This is wireless if that’s ok with you.”

Zoe nodded, sending over the relevant data, “Now, please don’t send any of that off to Korea, trust me, I have my reasons.”

“That reason wouldn’t happen to be a certain Hana Song, would it?” Winston chuckled, looking almost knowingly at Zoe. He walked over to the edge of the tower, looking down at the dots moving around, “So you got up here with a jetpack?” he asked, “Because you know you are allowed to use the stairs, right?”

Zoe smiled under her helmet again, “Where’s the fun in that.” She stepped up to the edge, folding her arms across her chest. She pitched forwards, letting herself fall off the building, corkscrewing though the air. Wind whistled past the lines of her helmet, she saw people stop as she fell, diving down, her arms now by her side. Her thrusters pivoted, firing hard as she approached the ground.

She spun in the air, landing and rolling forwards, walking back towards bay five, the roar of her jump kit echoing off the rocky surroundings. Under her helmet, she smiled, the sound reminding her of home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi, sorry for the long wait, life gets in the way of writing often.  
> Please leave a comment if there is anything you think is good/that I could do to improve and/or if you like the story so far or not.  
> Thanks for reading.


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